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LXIII.The Nematode
genus Rondonia
Travassos
a
H.A. Baylis M.A. D.Sc.
a
Department of Zoology , British
Museum (Natural History)
Published online: 18 Aug 2009.
To cite this article: H.A. Baylis M.A. D.Sc. (1936) LXIII.The Nematode
genus Rondonia Travassos , Annals and Magazine of Natural History: Series
10, 17:102, 606-610
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606 Dr. H. A. Baylis on
to separate both specimens, as they are identical.
The female of AnthidieUum flavescens is similar to the
male. Mandibles very briefly 4-dentate; apical half
of mandibles black-brown; lower margin of clypeus
with four very small rounded tubercles ; scape and second
antennal joint black ; ventral seopa light golden white.
The British Museum has a series of females of
Anthidiellum flavescens from S. R~ODESIA : Lonely Mine
(A. Swale), and the Transvaal Museum has 2 ~ and 1 3
from Bulawayo (R. H. R. Stevenson).
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0.14 ram. The three so-called " valves " in its interior
take the form of rounded pads covered with finely ribbed
cuticle, and m a y perhaps serve as a grinding apparatus.
The nerve-ring is situated near the anterior end of the
neck of the bulb, and the excretory pore at a variable
distance (about 0-1-0-2 mm.) behind the junction of the
bulb with the intestine.
The caudal end of the male is curled ventrally, usually
forming a full turn of a spiral. The tail is tapering and
pointed, and measures about 0.55-0.7 ram. in length.
Travassos, Artigas and Pereira state that there are
four equidistant pairs of postanal papillm and one pair
of preanal. In the present material (from both the
sources referred to above) nine pairs of papillae have
been observed (fig. 1, A). Of these five are postanal
(the most posterior being laterally or subdorsally situated,
the others subventrally), two adanal (one subventral,
at or immediately behind the angles of the cloacal aper-
ture, and one lateral), and two preanal and subventral.
The spicules are unequal in length and dissimilar in
form. The left spicule is 0.18-0.225 ram. long, and is
provided with delicate alto for about the distal two-thirds
of its length. The spicule shows a slight torsion about
its axis near the tip. The right spicule is about half
as long as the left (0.1-0.12 mm.) and is simple, some-
what swollen in the middle, and sharply pointed at
the tip. The accessory piece is about 0.045-0.07 mm.
(not 0,64 mm.) long, and is of a tubular structure.
Travassos, Artigas and Pereira mention the presence,
in front of the cloacal aperture, of two parallel linear
" chitinous formations " composed of small apposed
rectangles. The writer's interpretation of these struc-
608 Dr. H. A. Baylis o n
Fig. 1.
i )
! .............. z
I 0-! ram.
I
The taft of the female is, like that of the male, tapering
and pointed, b u t is straight. I t measures 0.75-1.33 mm.
in length in the specimens seen b y the writer (0-67 mm.,
according to Travassos, Artigas and Pereira). In this
genus the female has a character which is very exceptional
among Nematodes, in that the reproductive system
has a common opening with the alimentary canal.
As in the male, the genital tube is single. I t lies, for the
greater part of its length, on the left side of the intestine,
but passes, as a non-muscular vagina, ventrally to the
rectum to open by a very narrow aperture just within
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Fig. 2.
7"
I o.u ~. I o~
the anus (fig. 2). The single, reflexed ovary does not,
in young females, extend as far as the middle of the body.
In gravid females, however, it appears to be pushed
further forward b y the development of the uterus.
The worm is viviparous, producing a relatively small
number of larvse at a time. These escape from their
thin vitelline membranes and attain a length of a b o u t
2-2.2 mm. in the uterus. The oesophagus of the larva,
while still within the egg-membrane, is already of the
same form as in the adult. In the hatched larva it
attains a length of 0.4-0.44 ram. According to Travassos,
Ann, & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 10. Vol. xvii. 41
610 Mr. James Meikle Brown on
Artigas and Pereira the number of larvae present at a time
in the uterus rarely exceeds two, and they state that
the larv*e are apparently liberated by the rupture of the
body of the female. Gravid females were scarce in the
material examined by the writer, and evidence of this
method of birth was not observed. One female, however,
contained no less than nine free larvm, and these, as was
proved by dissection, all lay within the uterus, the wall
of which was intact.
From the description just given it will be seen that
Rondonia is, in almost all respects, a typical member of
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REFERENCES.
TRAVASSOS, L. 1920. " Esbo~o de u r e a C h a v e geral d o s N e m a t o d e s
p a r a s i t o s . " R e v . Vet. e Zootech., R i o d e J a n e i r o , p p . 59-70 bis,
1 table.
1923. " Informa~Ses sobre a F a u n a H e l m i n t h o l o g i c a de
M a t t o Grosso." F o l h a Medica, R i o de J a n e i r o , iv. p. 29,
, ARTIGAS, P., & PEREIRA, C~. 1928. " F a u n a Helminthologica
dos P e i x e s de A g u a Doce do Brasil." Arch. I n s t . Biol., S~o
Pattie, i. p p . 5-68, pls. i . - x i v .